Havana, May 25 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Pastor Alape, a commander with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and a member of the peace delegation in Cuba, insisted on Saturday that the rebel group is not interested in retaliation for the government airstrike that left 26 rebels dead and called for the implementation of a bilateral cease-fire.

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, announced Friday the end to its unilateral cease-fire after an airstrike in the middle of the night left dozens of guerrillas dead. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos accused the FARC of planning attacks, something Alape rejected outright. “We are not proposing retaliatory attacks, we are simply saying that we cannot maintain the unilateral cease-fire because if there is no bilateral cease-fire then there will be operations and clashes,” the FARC commander told Contagio Radio.

President Santos announced a resumption of airstrikes against FARC camps after an armed confrontation between the FARC and government soldiers in April left 11 soldiers dead, back then the FARC said they would maintain their unilateral cease-fire. It would appear that the government saw that as a weakness on the part of the rebel group, something that Alape said was a mistake. “That unilateral cease-fire that we declared was not a show of weakness, it was a show of strength in the name of peace, a hopeful dream,” said Alape.